Lost & Found

Luke 15: 1 - 7 (and continuing)

 

This parable about a lost sheep, a shepherd, and the remaining 99 sheep who are not lost is the first of a set of three teachings Jesus offers that focus on the state of being lost versus being found. Like other parables we’ve read, this cluster of teachings is framed Jesus hanging out with tax collectors and sinners while the scribes and pharisees raise their eyebrows and grumble about the company Jesus keeps.

 

I think that we can assume that Jesus is telling this parable specifically for the benefit of the Pharisees and scribes in response to their grumbling. Like any good parable, it is multifaceted and invites the hearer to see the story from the viewpoint of all of the characters. It invites the hearer to closely consider the setting. It invites the visitor to find themselves and the teaching that they need within the story.

 

Jesus poses a question at the outset, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?”

 

And he’s sort of backing the religious authorities into a corner from the outset. He’s suggesting that OF COURSE a good shepherd will go after the one, but that seems far from rational.

 

Think about it. A shepherd with a flock of 100 in the wilderness risks a LOT of sheep by leaving 99 to go after one that has wandered off. It makes so little sense in some ways. Leaving the 99 puts all of them at risk. And a loss of 1 seems like a small thing against the harsh realities of a wilderness full of predators for the unguarded 99.

 

In Jesus’ story, when that shepherd finds that one lost sheep, he doesn’t keep quiet about it. When he returns home, he tells of what he’s done, inviting his friends to rejoice. He’s not shy or ashamed of going after that 1 – not afraid of what others will think.

 

And Jesus wraps it up by saying, “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

 

Ah, so Jesus is still talking about repentance. 

 

This is another in a series of rapid-fire teaching about the work of turning hearts and lives back to God. And the shade thrown at the scribes and Pharisees? If religious authorities are so concerned about sin, then surely they will stop at nothing to bring sinners back to the fold. Surely they see the work that is theirs to do.

 

But as I mentioned, this is the first of three teachings. The second is another short parable, this time about a woman who has 10 silver coins and loses one of them. She lights all the lamps in her house and sweeps in every corner until she finds the one. And then she gathers her friends and neighbors for a celebration because she’s found this one coin. Again, Jesus ends this parable with a message about the joy over repentance: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

The third parable is one of those that is deep in our social fabric – the parable that we sometimes title “the prodigal son,” but it might more accurately just be titled “the prodigal.” 

 

Prodigal is a word related to “prodigious;” it has to do with spending of giving in a lavish way. In the story, the youngest son asks for his inheritance and then goes and squanders the money lavishly and ends up poor and hungry, feeding pigs, before returning to his father. 

 

Upon his return, the father throws a lavish party for his once-lost-son. What has been lost is found. But this story doesn’t end with such a rosy note about rejoicing in the lost. It instead ends with the older son, who has stayed home and been loyal to his father, pouting and dejected because he doesn’t believe his father has ever offered him such a celebration for us goodness.

 

And maybe, once again, Jesus is suggesting the religious authorities are a little like the oldest son, pouting about those returning to the family because they don’t feel appropriately celebrated for their goodness. I can see that. 

 

Sitting with these three stories this week, sitting with the tension of our theme for this week of lost and found, I was really drawn to wonder about what was lost in each story. I mean – in each story one lost thing is found. 

 

But is the one lost thing that is found the only beneficiary? And was the one lost thing the only thing in danger or at risk in its “lostness?”

 

Biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine notes that the number 100 is an expression of completion or wholeness. Take away just 1 and you no longer have that nice round number – 100. You no longer have perfection.  

 

And those 10 silver coins…10 is also a number that is somehow “complete.” Perhaps the woman’s rejoicing is rooted in the fulfillment of having her set of 10 whole again.

 

I wonder…what happens to the 99 sheep when just one is missing?

 

This week I have been sitting with the idea of what is missing when we lose just one. 

When we reject just one. 

When we single out just one.

 

We are living in a time when it is more and more acceptable to reject an entire group of people because of their gender identity, their sexual orientation, their immigration status, and even their party affiliation. 

 

We are living in a time when our government is taking actions that reject entire groups of people because of their gender identity, their sexual orientation, their immigration status, and even their party affiliation.

 

And, beloved, as Christians, that kind of exclusion, that kind of rejection is in direct opposition to the Kin-dom of God. Because the Kin-dom of God reflects the wildly diverse beauty of God’s creation. 

 

I believe deeply that each one of us is created in the image of God. 

That means that each one of us bears some aspect of God’s image.

That means it takes all of our beautiful diversity to actually represent the bigness of God.

 

And when we reject some identities, some people beautifully created in God’s image, then we miss out on the fullness, the wideness, the wildness of who GOD is, of who we are created to be as a whole human race.

 

In the story of the prodigal, why can’t the oldest son rejoice in the completeness of his family upon his brother’s return? Isn’t it enough that the family is whole?

What happens to us as a people when we reject others? And when we are encouraged to open our arms wide to the whole human family, do we sometimes resent it?

 

Since 2009, March 31 has been recognized as Transgender Day of Visibility. Last week, I participated in a webinar entitled “Defending Trans Lives.” In our work as a reconciling congregation, we are called to not only include everyone but to affirm their identity, support their full inclusion in the Kin-dom of God. 

 

I know that sometimes the “T” in LGBTQ is complicated for new allies. Transgender Day of Visibility might feel foreign.

 

I offer this from The Rainbow Project website: “Transgender people are people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be at birth. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender. When we’re born, a doctor usually says that we’re male or female based on what our bodies look like. But for some people’s gender identity – their innate knowledge of who they are – is different from what was assigned to them when they were born. Most of these people describe themselves as transgender.”

 

The Rainbow Project defines non-binary this way: Non-binary is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity doesn’t sit comfortably with ‘man’ or ‘woman’. This can be someone who does not wholly identify with male or female regardless of the gender assigned at birth.

 

In light of executive orders that are redefining the way gender is identified on official documents, some people are finding themselves misidentified. In some ways, their identity is being changed for them; in doing so, their identity is being erased. 

Think about it – what if the world refused to recognize you – as a Christian, as an athlete, as a skilled worker?

 

What do we miss when we reject those whose gender identity we don’t fully understand – but they do? What do we miss when we reject those who bear an image of God that is different than we expect? 

 

How is the herd or family not WHOLE until all are gathered back into the flock or under the roof?

 

This week I have been sitting with what is lost when the fullness of God’s creation is not included and protected in the fold.  And I have been sitting with my experience of those who might feel like the older brother in the story of the prodigal – those who feel like their goodness, their righteousness is somehow damaged by the inclusion of one who hasn’t always met family expectations.

 

That parable ends this way:

Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

 

As I sat this week with the idea of the shepherd going after the 1 lost sheep, I long to believe that it is worth going after just one, not just for that ONE, but for the good of the whole.

 

Because can the 99 actually be their fullest selves without that missing one?

Can the 99 be whole without the one?

 

I think that they might be missing out…